Joystick

[camokid]

Hi

I'd like to get a rundown on the Joystick, as it appears some people have a problem with it. If it is a problem, whats the problem, and how has it been solved?

Thanks

Camo

 

[Muncher666]

Some people find it favours diagonal directions a bit too much. It's easy to get used to, IMO. However, the cap is a piece of crap - it's made of a soft plastic and tends to 'cut' itself loose on the solid joystick stem. At the moment, I'm actually finding the bare stick far more effective, as the cap is as loose as hell. However, for a meagre 10 dollars, you can pick up one of DaveC's caps, they appear to be very, very good.

Allan.

 

[Khellros]

Hi

I'd like to get a rundown on the Joystick, as it appears some people have a problem with it. If it is a problem, whats the problem, and how has it been solved?

Thanks

Camo

​

Well, there is a lot of info about this everywhere on the board, but in short:

There are basically four different problems.

1. Diagonal bias: too easy to hit diagonals.
This can be helped somewhat on the software side, based on how controls are interpreted by the game/emulator, but there is no real solution.

2. Very poor stock cap: the stock cap has poor grip.
Buy one of DaveC's caps or mod the joystick yourself using one of the many mods described here on the board.

3. Large deadzone: the joystick needs to be pressed quite a long way to register a direction.
This can be helped by using a flatter cap, but there is no real solution.

4. Trouble registering direction because cap hits GP2X casing: This only happens on some units.
It is relatively easily fixed by pulling or twisting a bit on the cap or putting a litte piece of paper inside the hole in the cap.

/Khell

 

[jedthehumanoid]

Maybe it's better that a person with a gp2x answers this , but a quick rundown of the two major problems:
The cap seems unergonomical, it's convex and people slip and some even get soars.
There is some solutions to this as the cap pops of easily and can be replaced, for example DaveC's replacement cap (just search for it)

The other problem is that for some reason it's designed with larger diagonal zones than orthogonal(?), this means it's easier to hit diagonals than up/down, right/left, and apparently makes some games close to unplayable.
This other problem is way harder to adress, and apart from software fixes (i.e. make some diagonals register as orthogonals) there are no solutions to this.

There have been some rumours about GPH acknowledging joystick problems and have said to adress them, but no hard facts on this.

EDIT: yes i'm slow

 

[Radek]

Hi

I'd like to get a rundown on the Joystick, as it appears some people have a problem with it. If it is a problem, whats the problem, and how has it been solved?

Thanks

Camo

​

There actually two problems - the stick's cap what isn't giving enough grip and the stick's mechanics itself. It has freedom of movement of analog one yet it's discrete. In another words its handling isn't too precise.

The fix?

The cap is easy to replace and you can find some nice ones already on a market.

The stick is much harder issue... Because it's really 16 way (8 directions plus intermediate combinations) it's not compatible with any classical 4-way DPAD or stick. So even hardware modification will need some more tricks to do (but it can be done).

The non hardware solution is to employ various methods of filtering in software. These work and can make handling of the stock joystick more manageable but of course they will not fix mechanics of the gp2x's joystick.

 

[fragglerok]

Maybe it's better that a person with a gp2x answers this , but a quick rundown of the two major problems:
The cap seems unergonomical, it's convex and people slip and some even get soars.
There is some solutions to this as the cap pops of easily and can be replaced, for example DaveC's replacement cap (just search for it)

The other problem is that for some reason it's designed with larger diagonal zones than orthogonal(?), this means it's easier to hit diagonals than up/down, right/left, and apparently makes some games close to unplayable.
This other problem is way harder to adress, and apart from software fixes (i.e. make some diagonals register as orthogonals) there are no solutions to this.

There have been some rumours about GPH acknowledging joystick problems and have said to adress them, but no hard facts on this.

this from the gp2x.com site

/ NO / TITLE / WRITER / DATE / COUNT


2069 re admin 2006-01-20 230

it is actually Dpad.
but it is not designed well.
We are planning to make and sell or give better one for replacement



EDIT: yes i'm slow

​

 

[Paradox]

"make and sell or give better one"

i hope they give it for free

 

[Radek]

"make and sell or give better one"

i hope they give it for free

​

I would not take these words seriously - "it is actually Dpad"???

What does it mean - is that the gp2x has already Dpad but just not designed well!?

It's obvious that the person who said all that didn't have a clue about anything.

 

[IntenseWage]

I think GPH might have taken the complaints about the diagonals on the GP32 a little too far when designing the GP2X.

 

[grahf]

With a replacement cap, i dont mind it at all anymore. It feels like an arcade stick, which i happen to like.

 

[camokid]

I think i read somewhere about cutting the plastic from the sticks 'stem' what does this achieve, anyone tried it?

camo

 

[dave19711998]

I think i read somewhere about cutting the plastic from the sticks 'stem' what does this achieve, anyone tried it?

camo

​

I find the joystick also seems to be effected by the software. For example, the megadrive emulator is a joy to play with this joystick but the nkNES2x for the nes is unresponsive. I find the joystick is either unreponsive over the oposite. I think with a bit of tweaking in the software, this will be not as good as the SNES joypad but close.

 

[Muncher666]

I would not take these words seriously - "it is actually Dpad"???

What does it mean - is that the gp2x has already Dpad but just not designed well!?

It's obvious that the person who said all that didn't have a clue about anything.

​

Radek,

it's clear that there are translation issues there. It could technically be counted as more of a d-pad than an analogue stick due to the fact that it takes digital, directional commands rather than an analogue style input. (if that makes any sense, I know what I'm talking about, I'm just not very good at expressing it. )

Allan.

 

[Thraka]

It's not a (d)(pad). D being directional, Pad being a central spot where you push the exact directions buttons with very precise accuracy.

It's a (d)(stick). D being directional again, and Stick being that you push twords the desired direction and have a high chance of not hitting it. (depending on pressure, distance, and actual direction)

Now you can have different types, analog or digital, but thats not important to me

 

[shrubberyrobbery]

doh! why oh why did they make it a 16-way stick? with built in 'slippiness' and 'deadzone'. :rolleyes:
I love my gp2x, but, goddammit that was a silly thing to do :blink:

the stick on the original gp32 was just perfect for me. and it was nice and 'clicky', like an arcade stick

 

[lucoxade]

I've just got my second GP2X and had never noticed that my thumb gets realy soar after playing until I put reesys MegaDrive emu on it! I wasn't even playing for that long, maybe half an hour while watching EasEnders?

To quote Ringo, I'VE GOT BLISTERS ON MY FINGERS!

 

[deepmenace]

i hit the up right diagonal far too often and have not, as of yet, got used to it.

its makes some games unplayable and is the only real problem i have with the thing.